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SCHOOL-ROOM  CLASSICS.  II 


THE  ART 


OF 


QUESTIONING 

BY 

JOSHUA  G.  FITCH,  M.  A. 


NINTH  EDITION 


SYRACUSE,   N.  Y. 
C.  W.  BARDEEN,  PUBLISHER 


COPYRIGHT,    1879,    BY   DAVIS     BARDEEN   &  CO. 


The  following  paper  contains  the  substance  of 
a  lecture  delivered  to  training  classes  established 
in  connection  with  the  British  Sunday- School 
Union.  In  editing  it  for  this  series  of  educa- 
tional publications,  I  have  omitted  such  por- 
tions as  pertained  exclusively  to  the  work  of 
mission  Sunday-schools,  and  were  unessential 
to  the  continuity  and  completeness  of  the  work 
as  a  valuable  manual  for  public-school  teachers . 

C.  W.  BARDEEN. 

Syracuse,  January  22,  1879. 


341170 


THE  ART  OF  QUESTIONING 


I  have  undertaken  to  say  a  few  words 
to  you  on  the  "Art  of  Questioning/ '  It 
is  a  subject  of  great  importance  to  all  of 
you  who  desire  to  become  good  teachers ; 
for,  in  truth,  the  success  and  efficiency  of 
our  teaching  depend  more  on  the  skill 
and  judgment  with  which  we  put  ques- 
tions than  on  any  other  single  circum- 
stance. 

It  is  very  possible  for  a  teacher  to  be 
fluent  in  speech,  earnest  in  manner,  happy 
in  his  choice  of  illustration,  and  to  be  a 
very  inefficient  teacher,  nevertheless. 
We  are  often  apt  to  think  it  enough  if ^we 
deliver  a  good  lesson,  and  to  forget  that, 


78  Art  of  Questioning 

after  all,  its  value  depends  upon  the  de- 
gree in  which  it  is  really  received  and  ap- 
propriated by  the  children.  Now,  in  or- 
der to  secure  that  what  we  teach  shall 
really  enter  their  minds,  and  be  duly 
fixed  and  comprehended  there,  it  is  above 
all  things  necessary  that  we  should  be 
able  to  use  effectively  the  important  in- 
strument of  instruction  to  which  our  at- 
tention is  now  to  be  drawn. 

I  have  called  questioning  an  art.  It  is 
so,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  practical  matter, 
and  to  be  learned  mainly,  not  by  talking 
about  it,  but  by  doing  it.  We  can  be- 
come"good  questioners  only  after  much  pa- 
tient practice;  and,  as  is  the  case  with 
every  other  art,  proficiency  in  this  one 
can  be  attained  only  by  working  at  it, 
and*education  in  it  only  by  the  teaching 
of  experience. 


A  Science  as  well  as  an  Art  79 

But  if  this  were  all  I  should  not  have 
ventured  to  make  questioning  the  sub- 
ject of  an  address  to  you;  for  the  only 
advice  appropriate  in  such  a  case  would 
be,  "Go  to  your  classes,  work  in  them, 
and  learn  the  art  of  questioning  by 
questioning." 

The  truth  is,  however,  that  there  is  a 
science  of  teaching  as  well  as  an  art ;  every 
rule  of  practice  which  is  worth  anything 
is  based  on  some  principle ;  and  as  it  is  the 
business  of  every  good  artist  to  investi- 
gate the  reasons  for  the  methods  he 
adopts,  and  to  know  something  of  those 
general  laws  which  it  is  his  business  to  put 
to  a  practical  application,  so  it  will,  per- 
haps, be  worth  our  while  to  dwell  for  a 
little  on  the  general  principles  which 
should  be  kept  in  view  in  questioning,  and 


80  Art  of  Questioning 

to  ascertain  not  only  how  a  wise  teacher 
should  put  questions,  but  why  one  way 
is  better  or  worse  than  another. 

Questions  as  employed  by  teachers 
may  be  divided  into  three  classes,  accord- 
ing to  the  purposes  which  they  may  be 
intended  to  serve.  There  is,  first,  the 
preliminary  or  experimental  question,  by 
which  an  instructor  feels  his  way,  sounds 
the  depth  of  his  pupil's  previous  knowl- 
edge, and  prepares  him  for  the  reception 
of  what  it  is  designed  to  teach. 

Then,  secondly,  there  is  the  question 
employed  in  actual  instruction,  by  means 
of  which  the  thoughts  of  the  learner  are 
exercised,  and  he  is  compelled,  so  to 
speak,  to  take  a  share  in  giving  himself 
the  lesson. 

Thirdly,  there  is  the  question  of  exam- 


Three  Kinds  of  Questions  81 

ination,  by  which  a  teacher  tests  his  own 
work,  after  he  has  given  a  lesson,  and  as- 
certains whether  it  has  been  soundly  and 
thoroughly  learned.  If  we  carefully  at- 
tend to  this  distinction  we  shall  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  the  saying  of  a  very 
eminent  teacher,  who  used  to  say  of  the 
interrogative  method,  that  by  it  he  first 
questioned  the  knowledge  into  the  minds 
of  the  children,  and  then  questioned  it  out 
of  them  again. 

Perhaps  I  can  best  illustrate  the  nature 
of  what  I  have  called  preliminary  or  ex- 
perimental questioning,  by  referring  for 
a  moment  to  the  history  of  a  very  cele- 
brated man — an  Athenian  philosopher — 
who  lived  more  than  two  thousand  years 
ago,  but  whose  name  and  influence^sur- 
vive  even  in  this  age. 


82  Art  of  Questioning 

Socrates  had  the  reputation  of  being  a 
very  great  teacher,  yet  he  never  lectured 
nor  preached.  He  had  not  even  a  code 
of  doctrine  or  of  opinion  to  promulgate. 
But  he  lived  in  the  midst  of  a  keen,  cul- 
tivated, yet  somewhat  opinionated  peo- 
ple, and  he  made  it  his  business  to  ques- 
tion them  as  to  the  grounds  of  their  opin- 
ions; and  to  put  searching  and  rigid  in- 
quiries to  them  on  points  which  they 
thought  they  thoroughly  understood.  He 
believed  that  the  great  impediment  to 
true  knowledge  was  the  possession  of 
fancied  or  unreal  knowledge,  and  that  the 
first  business  of  a  philosopher  was,  not 
to  teach,  but  to  prepare  the  mind  of  the 
pupil  for  the  reception  of  truth,  by  prov- 
ing to  him  his  own  ignorance.  This  kind 
of  mental  purification  he  considered  a 


Socrates  83 

good  preparation  for  teaching;  hence  he 
often  challenged  a  sophist,  or  a  flippant 
and  self-confident  learner,  with  a  ques- 
tion as  to  the  meaning  of  some  familiar 
word;  he  would  receive  the  answer,  then 
repeat  it,  and  put  some  other  question 
intended  to  bring  out  the  different  senses 
in  which  the  word  might  be  applied.  It 
not  unfrequently  appeared  that  the  def- 
inition was  either  too  wide,  and  included 
too  much,  or  too  narrow,  and  compre- 
hended too  little.  The  respondent  would 
then  ask  leave  to  retract  his  former  def- 
inition and  to  amend  it;  and  when  this 
was  done  the  questioner  would  quietly 
proceed  to  cross-examine  his  pupil  on  the 
subject,  applying  the  amended  definition 
to  special  cases,  until  answers  were  given 
inconsistent  with  each  other,  and  with 


84  Art  of  Questioning 

the  previous  reply.  Now,  as  Socrates 
never  lost  sight  of  the  main  point,  and  had 
a  remarkable  power  of  chaining  his  hear- 
ers to  the  question  in  hand,  and  forbid- 
ding all  discursiveness,  the  end  of  the  ex- 
ercise often  was,  that  the  pupil,  after 
vain  efforts  to  extricate  himself,  admitted 
that  he  could  give  no  satisfactory  answer 
to  the  question  which  at  first  seemed  so 
easy. 

I  will  give  you  a  translation  from  one 
of  Plato's  dialogues,  in  which  this  pecul- 
iar method  is  illustrated.  There  was 
one  of  the  disciples  of  Socrates,  named 
Meno,  who  had  been  thus  probed  and 
interrogated  until  he  felt  a  somewhat 
uncomfortable  conviction  that  he  was 
not  so  wise  as  he  had  thought,  and  who 
complained  to  the  philosopher  of  what  he 


The  Method  of  Socrates  85 

called  the  merely  negative  character  of 
his  instruction. 

"Why,  Socrates,"  said  he,  "you  remind 
me  of  that  broad  sea-fish  called  the  tor- 
pedo, which  produces  a  numbness  in  the 
person  who  approaches  and  touches  it. 
For,  in  truth,  I  seem  benumbed  both  in 
mind  and  mouth,  and  know  not  what  to 
reply  to  you,  and  yet  I  have  often  spoken 
on  this  subject  with  great  fluency  and 
success. " 

In  reply  Socrates  says  little,  but  calls 
to  him  Meno's  attendant,  a  young  slave 
boy,  and  begins  to  question  him. 

"My  boy,  do  you  know  what  figure  this 
is?"  (drawing  a  square  upon  the  ground 
with  a  stick.) 

"O  yes.     It  is  a  square." 

"What  do  you  notice  about  these 
lines?"   (tracing  them.) 


86  Art  of  Questioning 

"That  all  four  are  equal." 

"Could  there  be  another  space  like 
this,  only  larger  or  less?" 

"Certainly." 

"Suppose  this  line  (pointing  to  one  of 
the  sides)  is  two  feet  long,  how  many 
feet  will  there  be  in  the  whole  ?" 

"Twice  two." 

"How  many  is  that  ?" 

"Four." 

"Will  it  be  possible  to  have  another 
space  twice  this  size?" 

"Yes." 

"How  many  square  feet  will  it  con- 
tain?" 

"Eight." 

"Then  how  long  will  the  sides  of  such 
a  space  be?" 

"It  is  plain,  Socrates,  that  it  will  be 
twice  the  length !" 


The  Method  of  Socrates  87 

"You  see,  Meno,  that  I  teach  this  boy 
nothing;  I  only  question  him.     And  he 
thinks  he  knows  the  right  answer  to  my 
question;  but  does  he  know? 
"Certainly  not,"  replied  Meno. 
"Let  us  return  to  him  again/ ' 
"My  boy,  you  say  that  from  a  line  of 
four  feet  long  there  will  be  produced  a 
space  of  eight  square  feet;  is  it  so  ?" 
"Yes,  Socrates,  I  think  so." 
"Let  us  try  then."     (He  prolongs  the 
line  to  double  the  length.) 
"Is  this  the  line  you  mean  ?" 
"Certainly."  (He  completes  the  square.) 
"How  large  is  become  the]whole  space  ?' ' 
"Why  it  is  four  times  as  large." 
"How  many  feet  does  it  contain?" 
"Sixteen." 

"How  many  ought  double  the  square 
to  contain?" 


88  Art  of  Questioning 

"Eight." 

After  a  few  more  questions  the  lad  sug- 
gests that  the  line  should  be  three  feet 
long,  since  four  feet  are  too  much. 

"If,  then,  it  be  three  feet,  we  will  add 
the  half  of  the  first  line  to  it,  shall  we?" 

"Yes."  (He  draws  the  whole  square 
on  a  line  of  three  feet.) 

"Now,  if  the  first  square  we  drew  con- 
tained twice  two  feet,  and  the  second 
four  times  four  feet,  how  many  does  the 
last  contain?" 

"Three  times  three,  Socrates." 

"And  how  many  ought  it  to  contain?" 

"Only  eight,  or  one  less  than  nine." 

"Well,  now,  since  this  is  not  the  line  on 
which  to  draw  the  square  we  wanted,  tell 
me  how  long  it  should  be  ?" 

"Indeed,  sir,  I  don't  know." 


Knowledge  of  Ignorance  89 

"Now  observe,  Meno,  what  has  hap- 
pened to  this  boy;  you  see  he  did  not 
know  at  first,  neither  does  he  yet  know. 
But  he  then  answered  boldly,  because  he 
fancied  he  knew;  now  he  is  quite  at  a  loss, 
and  though  he  is  still  as  ignorant  as  be- 
fore, he  does  not  think  he  knows." 

Meno  replies,  "What  you  say  is  quite 
true,  Socrates." 

"Is  he  not,  then,  in  a  better  state  now 
in  respect  to  the  matter  of  which  he  was 
ignorant?" 

"Most  assuredly  he  is." 

"In  causing  him  to  be  thus  at  a  loss, 
and  benumbing  him  like  a  torpedo,  have 
we  done  him  any  harm  ?" 

"None,  certainly." 

"We  have  at  least  made  some  progress 
toward  finding  out  his  true  position.     For 


90  Art  of  Questioning 

now,  knowing  nothing,  he  is  more  likely 
to  inquire  and  search  for  himself." 

Now  I  think  those  of  us  who  are  prac- 
tical-school teachers  can  draw  a  practical 
hint  or  two  from  this  anecdote.  If  we 
want  to  prepare  the  mind  to  receive  in- 
struction, it  is  worth  while  first  to  find 
out  what  is  known  already,  and  what 
foundation  or  substratum  of  knowledge 
there  is  on  which  to  build ;  to  clear  away 
misapprehensions  and  obstructions  from 
the  mind  on  which  we  wish  to  operate; 
and  to  excite  curiosity  and  interest  on 
the  part  of  the  learners  as  to  the  subject 
which  it  is  intended  to  teach.  For  "cur- 
iosity/' as  Archbishop  Whately  says,  "is 
the  parent  of  attention;  and  a  teacher 
has  no  more  right  to  expect  success  in 
teaching  those  who  have  no  curiosity  to 


Curiosity  Parent  of  Attention  91 

learn,  than  a  husbandman  has  who  sows 
a  field  without  ploughing  it." 

It  is  chiefly  by  questions  judiciously 
put  to  a  child  before  you  give  him  a  les- 
son, that  you  will  be  able  to  kindle  this 
curiosity,  to  make  him  feel  the  need  of 
your  instruction,  and  bring  his  intellect 
into  a  wakeful  and  teachable  condition. 

Whatever  you  may  have  to  give  in  the 
way  of  new  knowledge  will  then  have  a 
far  better  chance  of  being  understood. 
For  you  may  take  it  as  a  rule  in  teaching, 
that  the  mind  always  refuses  to  receive — 
certainly  to  retain — any  isolated  knowl- 
edge. We  remember  only  those  facts 
and  principles  which  link  themselves 
with  what  we  knew  before,  or  with  what 
we  hope  to  know,  or  are  likely  to  want 
hereafter.     Try,  therefore,  to  establish, 


92  Art  of  Questioning 

in  every  case,  a  logical  connection  be- 
tween what  you  teach  and  what  your 
pupils  knew  before.  Make  your  new  in- 
formation a  sort  of  development  of  the 
old,  the  expansion  of  some  germ  of 
thought  or  inquiry  which  lay  hid  in  the 
child's  mind  before.  Seek  to  bring  to 
light  what  your  pupil  already  possesses, 
and  you  will  then  always  see  your  way 
more  clearly  to  a  proper  adaptation  of 
your  teaching  to  his  needs. 

I  said  at  the  outset  that  there  were 
two  other  purposes  which  might  be 
served  by  questioning,  besides  this  pri- 
mary one  which  I  have  just  described. 
It  may  serve  the  purpose  of  actual  in- 
struction in  the  course  of  giving  a  lesson, 
and  it  may  also  be  the  means  of  exam- 
ining and  testing  the  pupils  after  the  les- 


Connect  the  New  with  the  Old  93 

son  is  finished.  Some  teachers  seem  to 
think  that  this  last  is  the  only  use  of 
questioning;  but,  in  truth,  it  is  as  a  means 
of  deepening  and  fixing  truth  upon  the 
mind  that  it  possesses  the  highest  value. 
Hence,  every  fact  you  teach,  before  you 
proceed  to  another,  ought  generally  to 
be  made  the  subject  of  interrogation. 

I  will  suppose  that  most  of  the  instruc- 
tion which  you  are  in  the  habit  of  giving 
in  a  Sunday-school  is  connected  with 
Scripture  reading  lessons.  The  usual 
plan  is  to  let  a  certain  portion  of  the  word 
of  God  be  read,  verse  by  verse,  in  turns 
by  the  children  of  the  class,  then  to 
cause  the  books  to  be  closed,  and  then  to 
proceed  to  question  on  the  lesson.  Now, 
in  my  own  classes  in  a  Sunday-school,  I 
have    generally    found    that    the    mere 


94  Art  of  Questioning 

mechanical  difficulty  of  reading,  and  the 
fact  that  so  much  of  the  phraseology  of 
the  Bible  is  unfamiliar  and  antiquated, 
were  sufficient  to  prevent  the  lesson  from 
being  understood  by  all  the  children. 
So,  if  I  reserve  my  questions  until  the 
end,  it  has  often  happened  that  many 
important  truths  of  the  lesson  proved  to 
have  been  overlooked  by  the  children, 
and  the  result  of  the  questioning  has  been 
most  unsatisfactory.  To  remedy  this  the 
best  plan  seems  to  be,  to  put  brief,  point- 
ed questions  during  the  reading,  to  take 
care  that  no  difficult  or  peculiar  words 
pass  unexplained,  and  constantly  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  the  class,  when  it  flags, 
by  inquiries  addressed  to  individual  mem- 
bers of  it.  You  will  also  find  it  a  good 
plan,  especially  with  the  younger  chil- 


Question  as  you  go  along  95 

dren,  after  the  whole  lesson  has  been 
read  twice  or  thrice  by  the  class,  to  read 
a  short  passage  yourself,  generally  two 
or  three  verses,  in  a  slow,  distinct  man- 
ner, with  as  much  expression  as  possible, 
and  then  question  thoroughly  upon  the 
passage,  exhausting  its  meaning  before 
you  go  on  to  the  next.  When  this  has 
been  done  with  each  successive  portion 
of  the  lesson  the  books  may  be  closed, 
and  the  whole  recapitulated  by  way  of 
examination.  You  will  find  this  plan 
answer  a  double  purpose ;  it  will  improve 
the  reading  of  the  class,  by  giving  to  it 
a  model  clearness  and  expression,  and  it 
will  enable  you  to  question  systematically 
on  every  fact  you  teach  as  soon  as  you 
have  taught  it.  By  thus  making  sure 
of  your  ground  as  you  proceed,  you  will 


96  Art  of  Questioning 

become  entitled  to  expect  answers  to 
your  recapitulatory  or  examination  ques- 
tions; and  this  is  a  point  of  great  impor- 
tance, for  nothing  discourages  and  de- 
presses a  teacher  more,  or  sooner  de- 
stroys the  interest  of  the  children  in  a 
lesson  than  the  asking  of  questions  which 
they  cannot  answer. 

Thus  the  advantage  of  questioning  on 
each  portion  of  a  lesson,  rigidly  and  care- 
fully, as  it  is  learned,  is,  that  you  then 
have  a  right  to  demand  full  answers  to  all 
your  testing  questions  when  the  lesson 
is  concluded.  You  will,  of  course,  go 
over  the  ground  a  second  time  much 
more  rapidly  than  at  first;  but  it  is  al- 
ways desirable  to  cover  the  whole  area 
of  your  subject  in  recapitulation,  and  to 
put  questions  at  the  end  to  every  child 
in  your  class. 


Simultaneous  Answers  97 

I  have  only  one  other  observation  to 
make  as  to  the  distinction  to  be  kept  in 
view  between  the  questioning  of  instruc- 
tion, and  the  questioning  of  examination. 
In  the  former  it  is  often  wise  to  use  the 
simultaneous  method,  and  to  address 
your  questions  to  the  whole  class.  This 
kind  of  collective  exercise  gives  vigor 
and  life  to  a  lesson,  and  the  sympathy 
which  is  always  generated  by  numbers 
helps  to  strengthen  and  fix  the  impres- 
sion you  wish  to  convey.  But  you  must 
never  be  satisfied  with  simultaneous  an- 
swers; they  should  invariably  be  fol- 
lowed up  by  individual  questioning,  or 
they  will  prove  very  misleading.  It  may 
seem  a  paradoxical  assertion,  but  it  is 
nevertheless  true,  that  a  group  of  chil- 
dren may  appear  intelligent,  while  the 


98  Art  of  Questioning 

separate  members  of  the  group  are  care- 
less, ignorant,  or  only  half  interested. 
Without  intending  to  deceive,  children 
soon  learn  to  catch  the  key-note  of  a 
word  or  a  sentence  from  their  fellows, 
and  to  practise  many  little  artifices  by 
which  knowledge  and  attention  are  sim- 
ulated, and  by  which  a  very  slight  de- 
gree of  interest  may  be  mistaken  by  their 
teacher  for  sound  and  thoughtful  work. 
So,  while  you  will  often  call  for  collective 
answers  in  order  to  retain  the  vivacity 
and  spirit  of  your  lesson,  you  should  al- 
ways suspect  such  answers ;  and  in  every 
case  let  them  be  succeeded  by  individual 
appeals  to  separate  children,  especially  to 
those  who  appear  the  least  attentive. 
Of  course  the  recapitulatory  or  examin- 
ation questions,   should  be  entirely  in- 


Individual  Answers  99 

dividual;  in  a  small  class  the  questions 
may  well  be  put  to  each  child  in  turn, 
but  in  a  large  one  they  should  be  given 
promiscuously ;  so  that  every  learner  may 
feel  sure  that  he  will  be  personally  chal- 
lenged, and  that  the  knowledge  of  the 
rest  will  form  no  cloak  for  his  own  ig- 
norance. 

But,  leaving  for  the  present  all  dis- 
tinctions as  to  the  purposes  which  ques- 
tions may  at  different  times  be  made  to 
serve,  let  us  fix  our  attention  on  some 
points  which  should  be  kept  in  view,  as 
to  the  language,  style,  and  character  of 
all  questions  whatever. 

First,  then,  cultivate  great  simplicity 
of  language.  Use  as  few  words  as  pos- 
sible, and  let  them  be  such  as  are  adapted 
to  the  age  and  capacity  of  the  class  you 


100  Art  of  Questioning 

are  teaching.  Remember  that  questions 
are  not  meant  to  display  your  own  learn- 
ing or  acquirements,  but  to  bring  out 
those  of  the  children.  It  is  a  great  point 
in  questioning  to  say  as  little  as  possible ; 
and  so  to  say  that  little,  as  to  cause  the 
children  to  say  as  much  as  possible. 
Conduct  your  lesson  in  such  a  way  that 
if  a  visitor  or  superintendent  be  standing 
by,  his  attention  will  be  directed,  not  to 
you,  but  to  your  pupils;  and  his  admir- 
ation excited,  not  by  your  skill  and  keen- 
ness, but  by  the  amount  of  mental  ac- 
tivity displayed  on  their  part. 

There  is  an  old  Latin  maxim  which, 
translated,  means,  "It  is  the  business  of 
art  to  conceal  art."  I  suppose  this 
means,  that  in  the  case  of  all  the  highest 
and  noblest  arts  their  results  are  spoiled 


Simplicity  of  Language  101 

by  any  needless  display  of  mechanism, 
or  any  obtrusive  manifestation  of  the 
artist's  personal  gifts.  At  any  rate  you 
may  take  it  for  granted,  in  relation  to 
your  art,  that  the  best  questioning  is 
that  which  attracts  least  attention  to  the 
questioner,  and  makes  the  learners  seem 
to  be  the  most  important  parties  con- 
cerned. You  will  do  well,  therefore,  to 
practise  yourselves  in  using  great  plain- 
ness of  speech,  and  in  constructing  ques- 
tions in  the  fewest  possible  words. 

Connected  with  this  is  another  hint  of 
importance :  Do  not  tell  much  in  your  ques- 
tions. Never,  if  you  can  help  it,  com- 
municate a  fact  in  your  question.  Con- 
trive to  educe  every  fact  from  the  class. 
It  is  better  to  pause  for  a  moment,  and 
to  put  one  or  two  subordinate  questions, 


102  Art  of  Questioning 

with  a  view  to  bring  out  the  truth  you  are 
seeking,  than  to  tell  anything  which  the 
children  could  tell  you.  A  good  teacher 
never  conveys  information  in  the  form 
of  a  question.  If  he  tells  his  class  some- 
thing, he  is  not  long  before  he  makes 
his  class  tell  him  the  same  thing  again; 
but  his  question  never  assumes  the  same 
form,  or  employs  the  same  phraseology 
as  his  previous  statement;  for  if  it  does, 
the  form  of  the  question  really  suggests 
the  answer,  and  the  exercise  fails  to  chal- 
lenge the  judgment  and  memory  of  the 
children  as  it  ought  to  do.  I  may,  for 
instance,  want  to  bring  out  the  fact  that 
Jerusalem  is  the  chief  city  in  the  Holy 
Land.  Now  suppose  I  do  it  thus:  "What 
is  the  chief  city  in  the  Holy  Land?" 
"Jerusalem."     "In  what  country  is  Je- 


Do  not  Tell  much  103 

rusalem  the  chief  city?"  "The  Holy 
Land/'  Here  each  question  carries  with 
it  the  answer  to  the  other,  and  the  con- 
sequence is  that  they  test  little  or  noth- 
ing, and  serve  scarcely  any  useful  pur- 
pose. 

For  this  reason  it  is  always  important, 
in  questioning  on  a  passage  of  Scripture, 
to  avoid  using  the  words  of  Scripture; 
otherwise  we  may  greatly  deceive  our- 
selves as  to  the  real  extent  of  knowledge 
possessed  by  the  class.  I  will  suppose, 
for  example,  that  you  are  giving  a  lesson 
on  the  meaning  of  the  Christian  injunc- 
tion, "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,"  and  that  the  class  has  first  been 
questioned  as  to  the  meaning  of  it,  and 
proved  unable  to  give  a  full  and  satis- 
factory  explanation   of   the   scope   and 


104  Art  of  Questioning 

meaning  of  these  memorable  words.  The 
parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  has  been 
chosen  as  an  illustrative  reading  lesson. 
It  has  been  read  twice  or  thrice  by  the 
class  in  turn,  and  then  the  teacher  takes 
the  first  verse  and  reads  it  slowly  to  the 
class : 

"A  certain  man  went  down  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Jericho,  and  fell  among  thieves y 
which  stripped  him  of  his  raiment,  and 
wounded  him,  and  departed,  leaving  him 
half  dead. ' '     Luke  x  :30. 

Some  teachers  would  proceed  to  ques- 
tion thus: 

Whom  is  this  parable  about  ?  A  certain 
man.  Where  did  he  go  from?  Jeru- 
salem. Where  to  ?  Jericho.  What  sort 
of  people  did  he  fall  among?  Thieves. 
What   did   they   do   with   his   raiment? 


A  Change  of  Wording  105 

Stripped  him  of  it.  What  did  they  do 
with  the  man  himself?  Wounded  him. 
In  what  state  did  they  leave  him  ?  Half 
dead. 

Observe  here  that  the  teacher  has  cov- 
ered the  whole  area  of  the  narrative,  and 
proposed  a  question  on  every  fact ;  so  far 
he  has  done  well.  But  it  is  to  be  noticed 
that  every  question  was  proposed  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  the  words  of  the 
book,  and  required  for  its  answer  one 
(generally  but  one)  of  those  words.  Now 
it  is  very  easy  for  a  boy  or  girl,  while  the 
echoes  of  the  Bible  narrative  just  read 
still  linger  in  the  ear,  to  answer  every 
such  question  by  rote  merely,  with 
scarcely  any  effort  of  memory,  and  no 
effort  of  thought  whatever.  It  is  very 
possible  to  fill  up  the  one  remaining  word 


106  Art  of  Questioning 

of  such  elliptical  sentences  as  those  which 
have  just  been  used  as  questions,  without 
having  any  perception  at  all  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  sentence  as  a  whole. 

So,  if  you  desire  to  secure  a  thorough 
understanding  of  the  sacred  narrative,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  propose  questions 
constructed  on  a  different  model,  avoid- 
ing the  use  of  the  exact  phraseology  of 
Scripture,  and  requiring  for  answers  other 
words  than  those  contained  in  the  nar- 
rative. 

Let  us  go  over  the  same  subject  again, 
first  introducing  it  by  one  or  two  prelim- 
inary questions;  for  example: 

Who  used  these  words? 

To  whom  were  they  spoken  ? 

Why  were  they  uttered  ? 

Repeat  the  question  which  the  lawyer 
asked. 


Do  not  Suggest  the  Answer  107 

What  is  the  parable  about  ?  (Various 
answers.)  One  says,  A  man  who  went  on 
a  journey.  What  do  you  call  a  man  who 
goes  on  a  journey?  A  traveller.  In 
what  country  was  the  man  travelling? 
Judea.  Let  us  trace  his  route  on  the 
map. 

In  what  direction  was  he  travelling? 
Eastward.  Through  what  kind  of  coun- 
try? (Here  the  teacher's  own  informa- 
tion should  supply  a  fact  or  two  about  its 
physical  features.)  What  should  you 
suppose  from  the  lesson  was  the 
state  of  the  country  at  that  time? 
Thinly  peopled]  road  unfrequented,  etc. 
How  do  you  know  this?  Because 
he  fell  among  thieves.  Give  another 
expression  for  "  fell  among. "  Hap- 
pened    to  meet  with.     Another  word  for 


106  Art  of  Questioning 

"  thieves.  M  Robbers.  How  did  the  rob- 
bers treat  this  traveler?  They  stripped 
him  of  his  raiment,  What  does  the  word 
raiment  mean?  Clothes.  Besides  rob- 
bing him  of  his  clothes,  what  else  did  they 
do  ?  Wounded  him.  Explain  that  word. 
Injured  him]  hurt  him  very  much,  etc. 
How  do  you  know  from  the  text  that  he 
was  much  hurt  ?  They  left  him  half  dead. 
They  almost  killed  him. 

Now  observe  here  that  the  aim  has 
been  two-fold.  First,  not  to  suggest  the 
answer  by  the  form  of  the  question. 
Hence  another  sort  of  language  has  been 
adopted,  and  the  children  have  therefore 
been  made  to  interpret  the  biblical  lan- 
guage into  that  of  ordinary  life.  Sec- 
ondly, not  to  be  satisfied  with  single 
words   as   answers,   especially  with   the 


Single  Words  not  Answers  109 

particular  word  which  is  contained  in  the 
narrative  itself,  but  always  to  translate 
it  into  one  more  familiar.  Children 
often  give  the  word  which  suffices  to 
answer  their  teacher's  inquiry,  and  are  yet 
ignorant  of  the  whole  statement  of  which 
that  word  forms  a  part.  After  going 
over  verses  like  these  in  detail,  I  should 
recommend  varying  the  form  of  the  ques- 
tion, thus: 

"Now,  what  have  we  learned  in  this 
verse?" 

"That  there  was  a  traveller  going  from 
the  chief  city  of  Judea  to  another  town 
near  the  Jordan,  on  the  northeast.' ' 

"Well,  and  what  happened  to  him?" 

"He  was  robbed,  and  half -killed,  and 
left  very  weak  and  helpless." 

A  teacher  ought  not,  in  fact,  to  be  sat- 


110  Art  of  Questioning 

isfied  until  he  can  get  entire  sentences 
for  answers.  These  sentences  will  gen- 
erally be  paraphrases  of  the  words  used 
in  the  lesson,  and  the  materials  for  mak- 
ing the  paraphrases  will  have  been  de- 
veloped in  the  course  of  the  lesson  by 
demanding,  in  succession,  meanings  and 
equivalents  for  all  the  principal  words. 
Remember  that  the  mere  ability  to  fill 
up  a  parenthetical  or  elliptical  sentence 
proves  nothing,  beyond  the  possession  of  a 
little  tact  and  verbal  memory.  It  is  worth 
while  to  turn  round  sharply  on  some  in- 
attentive member  of  the  class,  or  upon 
some  one  who  has  just  given  a  mechanical 
answer,  with  the  question,  "What  have 
wejjust  said?"  "Tell  me  what  we  have 
justjlearned  about  such  a  person."  Ob- 
serve that  the  answer  required  to  such 


Unmistakable  Questions  111 

a  question  must  necessarily  be  a  whole 
sentence;  it  will  be  impossible  to  answer 
it  without  a  real  effort  of  thought  and  of 
judgment  in  the  selection  of  the  learner's 
words,  and  without  an  actual  acquaint- 
ance with  the  fact  that  has  been  taught. 
It  is  of  great  importance,  also,  that 
questions  should  be  definite  and  unmis-t~ 
takable,  and,  for  the  most  part,  that  they 
admit  of  but  one  answer.  An  unskilful 
teacher  puts  vague,  wide  questions,  such 
as, ' ' What  did  he  do  ?"  ' ' What  did  Abra- 
ham say?"  "How  did  Joseph  feel  at 
such  a  time?"  "What  lesson  ought  we 
to  learn  from  this?"  questions  to  which 
no  doubt  he  sees  the  right  answer,  be- 
cause it  is  already  in  his  mind ;  but  which 
perhaps,  admit  of  several  equally  good 
answers,  according  to  the  different  points 


112  Art  of  Questioning 

of  view  from  which  different  minds  would 
look  at  them.  He  does  not  think  of  this; 
he  fancies  that  what  is  so  clear  to  him 
ought  to  be  equally  clear  to  others;  he 
forgets  that  the  minds  of  the  children  may 
be  moving  on  other,  rails,  so  to  speak, 
even  though  directed  to  the  same  ob- 
ject. So,  when  an  answer  comes  which 
is  not  the  one  he  expected,  even  though 
it  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  one,  he  rejects 
it;  while,  if  any  child  is  fortunate  enough 
to  give  the  precise  answer  which  was  in 
the  teacher's  mind  he  is  commended  and 
rewarded,  even  though  he  has  exerted  no 
more  thought  on  the  subject. 

Vague  and  indefinite  questions,  I  have 
always  observed,  produce  three  different 
results,  according  to  the  class  of  children 
to  whom  they  are  addressed.     The  really 


Results  of  Indefinite  Questions  113 

thoughtful  and  sensible  boy  is  simply  be- 
wildered by  them.  He  is  very  anxious 
to  be  right,  but  he  is  not  clear  as  to  what 
answer  his  teacher  expects;  so  he  is  silent, 
looks  puzzled,  and  is  perhaps  mistaken 
for  a  dunce.  The  bold  and  confident  boy 
who  does  not  think,  when  he  hears  a 
vague  question  answers  at  random;  he 
is  not  quite  sure  whether  he  is  right  or 
wrong,  but  he  tries  the  experiment,  and 
is  thus  strengthened  in  a  habit  of  inac- 
curacy, and  encouraged  in  the  mischiev- 
ous practice  of  guessing.  There  is  a 
third  class  of  children  whom  I  have 
noticed,  not  very  keen,  but  sly  and 
knowing  nevertheless,  who  watch  the 
teacher's  peculiarities,  know  his  methods, 
and  soon  acquire  the  knack  of  observing 
the  structure  of  his  sentences,  so  as  to 


114  Art  of  Questioning 

find  out  which  answer  he  expects.  They 
do  not  understand  the  subject  so  well, 
perhaps,  as  many  others,  but  they  under- 
stand the  teacher  better,  and  can  more 
quickly  pronounce  the  characteristic 
word  or  the  particular  answer  he  ex- 
pects. Now  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say, 
that  as  far  as  real  education  and  de- 
velopment of  thought  are  concerned,  each 
of  these  three  classes  of  children  is  injured 
by  the  habit  of  vague,  wide,  and  am- 
biguous questioning  which  is  so  common 
among  teachers. 

For  similar  reasons  it  is  generally  nec- 
essary to  abstain  from  giving  questions 
to  which  we  have  no  reasonable  right  to 
expect  an  answer.  Technical  terms,  and 
information  children  are  not  likely  to 
possess,    ought    not    to    be    demanded. 


No  Technical  Terms  115 

Nor  should  questions  be  repeated  to  those 
who  cannot  answer.  A  still  more  ob- 
jectionable practice  is  that  of  suggesting 
the  first  word  or  two  of  a  sentence,  or 
pronouncing  the  first  syllable  of  a  word 
which  the  children  do  not  recollect.  All 
these  errors  generate  a  habit  of  guessing 
among  the  scholars,  and  we  should  ever 
bear  in  mind  that  there  is  no  one  habit 
more  fatal  to  accurate  thinking,  or  more 
likely  to  encourage  shallowness  and  self- 
deception,  than  this.  It  should  be  dis- 
countenanced in  every  possible  way;  and 
the  most  effective  way  is  to  study  well 
the  form  of  our  questions,  to  consider 
well  whether  they  are  quite  intelligible 
and  unequivocal  to  those  to  whom  they 
are  addressed,  and  to  limit  them  to  those 
points  on  which  we  have  a  right  to  expect 
clear  and  definite  answers. 


116  Art  of  Questioning 

There  is  a  class  of  questions  which 
hardly  deserve  the  name,  and  which  are, 
in  fact,  fictitious  or  apparent,  but  not 
true  questions.  I  mean  those  which  sim- 
ply require  the  answer  "Yes"  or  "No." 
Nineteen  such  questions  out  of  twenty 
carry  their  own  answers  in  them;  for  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  propose  one 
without  revealing,  by  the  tone  and  in- 
flexion of  the  voice,  the  kind  of  answer 
you  expect.  For  example:  "Is  it  right 
to  honor  our  parents?"  "Did  Abraham 
show  much  faith  when  he  offered  up  his 
son?"  "Do  you  think  the  author  of  the 
Psalms  was  a  good  man?"  "Were  the 
Pharisees  really  lovers  of  truth?"  Ques- 
tions like  these  elicit  no  thought  what- 
ever; there  are  but  two  possible  answers 
to  each  of  them,  and  of  these  I  am  sure 


Yes  or  No  Questions  117 

to  show,  by  my  manner  of  putting  the 
question,  which  one  I  expect.  Such  ques- 
tions should,  therefore,  as  a  general  rule, 
be  avoided,  as  they  seldom  serve  any 
useful  purpose,  either  in  teaching  or  in 
examining.  For  every  question,  it  must 
be  remembered,  ought  to  require  an  ef- 
fort to  answer  it;  it  may  be  an  effort  of 
memory,  or  an  effort  of  imagination,  or 
an  effort  of  judgment,  or  an  effort  of  per- 
ception; it  may  be  a  considerable  effort 
or  it  may  be  a  light  one;  but  it  must  be 
an  effort;  and  a  question  which  chal- 
lenges no  mental  exertion  whatever,  and 
does  not  make  the  learner  think,  is  worth 
nothing.  Hence,  however  such  simple 
affirmative  and  negative  replies  may  look 
like  work,  they  may  coexist  with  utter 
stagnation  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the 


118  Art  of  Questioning 

scholars,  and  with  complete  ignorance  of 
what  we  are  attempting  to  teach. 

vSo  much  for  the  language  of  question- 
ing. But  it  is  worth  while  to  give  a  pas- 
sing notice  to  the  order  and  arrangement 
which  should  always  characterize  a  series 
of  questions.  They  should,  in  fact,  al- 
ways follow  one  another  in  systematic 
order;  each  should  seem  to  grow  out  of 
the  answer  which  preceded  it,  and  should 
have  a  clear  logical  connection  with  it. 

Much  of  the  force  and  value  of  the  in- 
terrogative method  is  lost  in  a  loose,  uncon- 
nected, random  set  of  inquiries,  however 
well  they  maybe  worded,  or  however  skil- 
fully each  separate  question  may  be  de- 
signed to  elicit  the  thought  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  learners.  If  the  entire  im- 
pression left  on  the  mind  of  the  learner 


Arrangement  of  Questions  119 

is  to  be  an  effective  one,  all  that  he  has 
learned  on  a  given  subject  ought  to  be  co- 
herent and  connected.  We  cannot  se- 
cure this  without  acquiring  a  habit  of 
continuous  and  orderly  questioning,  so 
that  each  effort  of  thought  made  by  the 
scholar  shall  be  duly  connected  with  the 
former,  and  preparatory  to  the  next. 
There  will  thus  be  a  unity  and  entireness 
in  the  teaching,  and  what  is  taught  will 
then  have  a  reasonable  chance  of  a  per- 
manent .  place  in  the  memory.  For  we 
must  ever  remember  that  whatever  is 
learned  confusedly  is  remembered  con- 
fusedly, and  that  all  effective  teaching 
must  be  characterized  by  system  and  con- 
tinuity. Hence,  in  proposing  questions, 
it  is  very  necessary  to  keep  in  view  the 
importance  of  linking  them  together;  of 


120  Art  of  Questioning 

making  each  new  answer  the  solution  of 
some  difficulty,  which  the  former  answer 
suggested,  but  did  not  explain;  and  of 
arranging  all  questions  in  the  exact  order 
in  which  the  subject  would  naturally 
develop  itself  in  the  mind  of  a  logical 
and  systematic  thinker. 

A  very  good  example  of  this  peculiar 
merit  in  questioning  may  be  found  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  Catechism, 
especially  in  its  latter  section.  I  do  not, 
of  course,  enter  here  on  any  controversy 
respecting  the  subject-matter  of  this 
catechism;  but  the  arrangement  of  the 
questions  will  certainly  repay  an  atten- 
tive examination.  Look  at  that  portion 
which  relates  to  the  sacraments.  It  will 
be  found  that  each  answer  serves  to  sug- 
gest  the   next   question,    and   that   the 


The  Skill  of  Lawyers  121 

whole  body  of  answers,  in  the  order  in 
which  they  stand,  furnish  a  systematic 
code  of  doctrine  on  the  subject  to  which 
the  catechism  refers,  with  every  fact  in 
precisely  its  right  place.  The  excellence 
of  the  method  adopted  here  will  be  best 
understood  by  contrasting  it  with  many 
popular  modern  works  in  a  catachetical 
form. 

We  have  often  been  struck,  I  dare  say, 
in  reading  the  newspapers,  to  find  what 
plain  and  sensible  evidence  the  witnesses 
all  appear  to  give  at  judicial  trials.  We 
recognize  the  name  of  some  particular 
person,  and  we  know.,  perhaps,  that  he 
is  an  uneducated  man,  apt  to  talk  in  an 
incoherent  and  desultory  way  on  most 
subjects,  utterly  incapable  of  telling  a 
simple  story  without  wandering  and  blun- 


122  Art  of  Questioning 

dering,  and  very  nervous  withal;  yet 
if  he  happens  to  have  been  a  witness  at 
a  trial,  and  we  read  the  published  report 
of  his  testimony;  we  are  surprised  to  find 
what  a  connected,  straightforward  story 
it  is;  there  is  no  irrelevant  or  needless 
matter  introduced,  and  yet  not  one  sig- 
nificant fact  is  omitted.  We  wonder 
how  such  a  man  could  have  stood  up  in 
a  crowded  court,  and  narrated  facts  with 
all  this  propriety  and  good  taste. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  witness  is  not 
entitled  to  your  praise.  He  never  recited 
the  narrative  in  the  way  implied  by  the 
newspaper  report.  But  he  stood  op- 
posite to  a  man  who  had  studied  the  art 
of  questioning,  and  he  replied  in  succes- 
sion to  a  series  of  interrogations  which  the 
barrister  proposed  to  him.     The  reporter 


Connection  of  Answers  123 

for  the  press  has  done  no  more  than  copy 
down,  in  the  exact  order  in  which  they 
were  given,  all  the  replies  to  these  ques- 
tions; and  if  the  sum  of  these  replies  reads 
to  us  like  a  consistent  narrative,  it  is 
because  the  lawyer  knew  how  to  marshal 
his  facts  beforehand,  had  the  skill  to  de- 
termine what  was  necessary,  and  what 
was  not  necessary,  to  the  case  in  hand, 
and  to  propose  his  questions  so  as  to 
draw  out,  even  from  a  confused  and  be- 
wildered mind,  a  coherent  statement  of 
facts. 

We  may  take  a  hint,  I  think,  from 
the  practice  of  the  bar  in  this  respect; 
and,  especially,  in  questioning  by  way  of 
examination,  we  may  remember  that  the 
answers  of  the  children,  if  they  could  be 
taken  down  at  the  moment,  ought  to 


124  Art  of  Questioning 

form  a  complete,  orderly,  and  clear  sum- 
mary of  the  entire  contents  of  the  lesson. 
Of  course  I  do  not  mean  to  insist  too 
rigidly  upon  an  adherence  to  this  rule. 
Misconceptions  will  reveal  themselves  in 
the  course  of  the  lesson,  which  will  require 
to  be  corrected;  hard  words  will  occur, 
which  need  explanation;  new  trains  of 
thought  and  inquiry  will  seem  to  start 
out  of  the  lesson,  and  to  demand  occasion- 
al digression;  it  will,  in  fact,  often  become 
necessary  to  deviate  a  little  to  the  right 
hand  or  to  the  left  from  the  main  path, 
for  the  sake  of  illustration,  and  for  other 
good  reasons.  No  good  teacher  allows 
himself  to  be  so  enslaved  by  a  mechanical 
routine  as  to  neglect  these  things ;  we  must 
not  attempt,  even  for  the  sake  of  logical 
consistency,  to  adhere  too  rigidly  to  a 


Keep  Purpose  in  View  125 

formal  series  of  questions,  nor  refuse 
to  notice  any  new  fact  or  inquiry  which 
seems  to  spring  naturally  out  of  the  sub- 
ject. Still,  the  main  purpose  of  the 
whole  lesson  should  be  kept  steadily  in 
view;  all  needless  digression  should  be 
carefully  avoided,  and  any  incidental  dif- 
ficulties which  are  unexpectedly  dis- 
closed in  the  lesson  should  rather  be  re- 
membered and  reserved  for  future  in- 
vestigation, than  permitted  to  beguile  a 
teacher  into  a  neglect  of  those  truths 
which  the  lesson  is  primarily  designed  to 
teach. 

A  good  deal  of  the  success  of  a  teacher 
depends  upon  the  manner  in  which  ques- 
tions are  proposed.  Perhaps  the  most 
important  requisite  under  this  head  is 
animation.     Slow,  dull,  heavy  question- 


126  Art  of  Questioning 

ing  wearies  children,  and  destroys  their 
interest  in  a  lesson.  It  is  by  a  rapid  suc- 
cession of  questions,  by  a  pleasing  and 
spirited  manner,  by  dextrously  chal- 
lenging all  who  seem  inattentive,  and, 
above  all,  by  an  earnest  feeling  of  inter- 
est in  the  subject,  and  of  delight  in  seeing 
the  minds  of  his  scholars  at  work,  that 
the  teacher  will  best  kindle  their  mental 
activity,  and  give  life  and  force  to  his 
subject. 

Hence  it  is  necessary  to  avoid  long 
pauses,  and  all  monotony  of  voice, 
or  sluggishness  of  manner;  to  vary  the 
phraseology  of  your  questions,  and  to 
seek  in  every  way  to  kindle  interest  and 
enthusiasm  about  the  lesson.  But  in 
doing  this  let  us  remember  that  we  cannot 
give  more  than  we  possess;  we  cannot 


Animation  127 

raise  the  minds  of  others  above  the  level 
of  our  own;  and  therefore  it  is  important 
that  our  manner  should  show  a  warm  in- 
terest in  the  subject,  and  that  our  own 
love  for  sacred  truth  should  be  so  strong 
as  to  convey  itself,  by  the  mere  force  of 
sympathy,  into  the  hearts  of  those  whom 
we  undertake  to  instruct.  I  have  seen 
Sunday-school  teachers  whose  cheeks 
glowed,  and  whose  manner  became  suf- 
fused with  earnestness  as  they  spoke  the 
words  of  healing  and  of  life,  I  have  seen 
their  eyes  glisten  with  tearful  joy  as  one 
little  one  after  another  had  his  intellect 
awakened  to  receive  the  truth,  and  his 
heart  touched  with  sacred  impressions. 
And  I  have  known  well  that  these  were 
teachers  who,  whatever  their  intellectual 
gifts  might  be,  were  the  most  likely  per- 


128  Art  of  Questioning 

sons  to  obtain  an  entrance  into  the  hearts 
of  children,  to  exercise  a  right  influence 
over  them,  and  to  find,  after  many  days, 
that  the  seed  they  had  thus  sown  in  hope 
and  fear  had  been  watered  by  the  divine 
favor  and  benediction,  and  brought  forth 
rich  and  glorious  fruit.  Of  course  we 
must  not  counterfeit  an  emotion  which 
we  do  not  feel,  nor  use  an  earnest  manner 
as  a  mere  trick  of  art,  or  as  a  machine 
for  making  our  teaching  effective;  but 
a  Sunday-school  teacher  will  never  be 
worth  much  unless  his  own  heart  kindles 
at  the  thought  of  the  permanence  and 
preciousness  of  the  truths  he  has  to  teach, 
nor  unless  he  feels  a  positive  pleasure  in 
witnessing  every  new  proof  of  the  un- 
folding of  mind  on  the  part  of  his  class. 
Such  feelings  are  sure  to  give  vigor  to  his 


Preparation  for  the  Lesson  129 

teaching,  a  vivid  and  picturesque  char- 
acter to  his  illustrations,  earnestness  to 
his  manner,  animation  to  his  voice,  and  a 
quick,  active  and  telling  character  to  his 
method  of  questioning. 

For  these  reasons  I  think  it  very  un- 
desirable for  a  teacher  to  use  a  book  of 
questions,  or  to  have  teaching  notes  in 
his  hand  while  he  gives  the  lesson.  The 
value  of  such  assistance  is  great  if  you 
avail  yourselves  of  it  beforehand:  if  it 
helps  to  systematize  your  own  thoughts 
and  prepare  you  for  the  right  develop- 
ment of  the  lesson.  But  in  the  presence 
of  the  children  the  use  of  the  text-book 
has  a  chilling  and  depressing  effect;  it 
destroys  their  confidence  in  their  teacher, 
it  prevents  him  from  feeling  at  his  ease, 
and  it  gives  a  sluggish  and  mechanical 


130  Art  of  Questioning 

look  to  the  whole  proceeding.  Whether 
our  questions  be  good  or  bad,  it  is  quite 
certain  that  they  should  be  our  own,  not 
read  out  of  a  book,  or  from  notes,  but 
growing  spontaneously  out  of  our  own 
minds,  and  adapted  not  only  to  the  pe- 
culiar character  and  requirements  of  the 
class;  but  also  to  the  time  and  circum- 
stances, to  the  special  turn  which  the 
lesson  has  chanced  to  take,  and  to  the 
particular  inferences  which  the  teacher 
feels  it  most  important  to  draw  from  it. 
For  it  must  ever  be  one  of  the  first 
requisites  in  all  good  teaching,  that  the 
minds  of  the  teacher  and  of  the  taught 
should  come  into  actual  contact.  The 
words  of  some  one  else,  read  or  quoted  to 
me,  never  can  have  half  the  force  of 
the  actual  utterance  of  a  living  present 


Actual  Contact  of  Minds  131 

being,  whose  own  thought  seeks  en- 
trance into  my  mind,  and  is  intended 
specially  to  meet  my  needs.  We  all 
know  the  difference  between  reading  a 
sermon  to  children,  and  delivering  orally 
a  far  inferior  address,  but  one  attended 
with  gestures  and  looks  and  tones  which 
prove  its  genuinesness.  and  give  it  direct- 
ness of  application.  The  same  difference 
is  noticeable  in  questioning,  and  there- 
fore it  is  far  better  that  a  teacher  should 
make  a  few  blunders  and  inaccuracies 
while  he  is  educating  himself  into  the 
habit  of  independent  questioning,  than 
that  he  should  be  rigidly  exact  and  care- 
ful by  the  help  of  notes  or  books.  Swim- 
ming with  corks  is  not,  strictly  speaking, 
swimming  at  all;  and  so  the  reading  of 
certain  inquiries  from  a  catechism  or  a 


132  Art  of  Questioning 

book  is  not,  in  fact,  questioning  at  all, 
but  an  indirect  and  very  inefficient  sub- 
stitute for  it. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  worth  while  to  say 
a  word  or  two  about  the  answers  which 
questions  may  receive.  We  ought  not 
to  be  satisfied  with  obtaining  a  right 
answer  from  one  child,  nor  even  from  the 
whole  class  collectively.  In  most  cases 
it  is  necessary  to  repeat  a  question  which 
has  been  answered,  to  some  other  child 
who  may  have  appeared  inattentive. 
And  if  a  question  is  first  given  to  one  who 
fails  to  answer  it,  and  then  to  another 
boy  or  girl  who  gives  the  right  answer, 
it  is  generally  a  good  plan  to  go  back  to 
the  first  child,  and  put  the  same  ques- 
tion, again,  in  order  to  test  his  attention 
to  what  is  going  on  in  the  class.     We  can 


Get  Answers  from  All  133 

secure  a  hold  upon  the  more  indolent 
scholars  only  by  making  each  one  feel 
that  he  cannot  possibly  escape,  but  that 
his  own  personal  knowledge  of  the  subject 
is  sure  to  be  challenged  at  the  close  of  the 
lesson.  Hence,  all  questions  should  be 
well  distributed  throughout  the  class, 
and  no  one  child  should  be  allowed  to 
avoid  the  frequent  appeals  of  his  teacher. 
Wrong  answers  will  often  be  given,  yet 
these  should  never  make  us  angry,  but 
should  be  reserved  for  awhile,  and  shown 
to  be  incorrect  by  subsequent  examina- 
tion. Of  course,  if  random  or  foolish 
answers  are  offered,  it  is  a  proof  that  the 
discipline  of  the  class  is  bad,  and  the 
offence  must  be  regarded  as  a  breach  of 
rule,  and  treated  accordingly.  But  a 
mistake   arising   from    ignorance    ought 


134  Art  of  Questioning 

never  to  be  treated  as  a  crime.  A  teacher 
may  meet  it  by  saying,  "Will  some  one 
tell  me  why  that  answer  is  a  wrong  one  ?" 
Or,  if  the  answer  is  very  wide  of  the 
mark,  by  saying,  "We  will  go  into  that 
presently;"  or,  "We  will  have  a  lesson  on 
that  subject,  and  you  will  then  see  why 
the  answer  was  a  bad  one."  And,  in  the 
very  numerous  cases  in  which  an  answer 
is  partly  wrong,  and  partly  right,  or  in 
which  an  answer,  though  right  in  sub- 
stance, is  wrong  in  the  mere  language  or 
form  of  expression,  it  is  always  desirable 
to  alter  the  language  of  your  question,  to 
propose  it  again  to  an  elder  child,  to  add 
a  subordinate  question  or  two  to  disen- 
tangle the  precise  truth,  and  then  at  last 
the  question  should  be  repeated  in  its 
original  form,  and  an  amended  answer  be 


Mistakes  in  Answers  135 

required.  But  all  this  implies  patience 
and  judgment;  a  condescension  to  the 
weakness  and  obscurity  of  infant  minds; 
a  considerate,  forbearing  tone;  and  a 
constant  desire  to  sympathize  in  their 
difficulties,  rather  by  offering  a  friendly 
help  in  escaping  from  them  than  by  solv- 
ing them  at  once. 

It  may  occasionally  happen  to  a  teach- 
er to  be  much  vexed  and  puzzled  because 
he  can  obtain  no  answers  to  his  questions 
at  all,  or  because  all  the  answering  comes 
from  one  or  two  prominent  children.  In 
such  cases  it  is  needless  to  find  fault,  or 
to  complain  and  scold  for  the  inattention. 
It  is  far  better  to  look  into  ourselves,  and 
see  if  we  cannot  find  the  reason  there 
for  our  want  of  success.  Perhaps  we 
have  allowed  the  lesson  to  proceed  in  dis- 


136  Art  of  Questioning 

order,  and  nothing  is  known,  simply  be- 
cause nothing  has  been  taught;  and  in 
this  case  our  own  method  is  in  fault.  Or, 
perhaps,  we  have  been  asking  questions 
above  the  comprehension  of  the  chil- 
dren, which  they  are  positively  unable  to 
answer,  and  which  we  have  no  right  to 
ask.  Or,  it  may  be  that  we  have  put 
our  questions  in  an  indistinct  or  unin- 
telligible way.  Let  us  always,  in  case  of 
failure,  suspect  ourselves,  take  the  ig- 
norance of  the  children  as  a  censure  upon 
our  own  methods,  and  endeavor,  with 
God's  blessing,  to  turn  the  experience  of 
such  a  lesson  to  good  account  by  rec- 
tifying our  plans,  simplifying  our  lan- 
guage, or  studying  more  accurately  the 
nature  of  the  beings  with  whom  we  have 
to  deal. 


Mutual  Questions  137 

Occasionally  it  will  be  found  advan- 
tageous to  vary  the  exercise  by  the  em- 
ployment of  mutual  questions ;  by  setting 
the  children,  especially  of  an  upper  class, 
to  question  one  another  in  turn  on  the 
subject  of  the  lesson.  They  will  be  very 
shy,  and  unwilling  to  do  this  at  first ;  but 
after  a  little  practice  they  will  learn  to 
like  it,  and  in  the  act  of  framing  questions 
their  own  intelligence  will  be  greatly 
strengthened.  Lord  Bacon  said  "a  wise 
question  is  the  half  of  knowledge;"  and 
it  is  quite  true  that  it  takes  some  knowl- 
edge of  a  subject  to  enable  us  to  put  a 
good  question  upon  it;  such  mutual  in- 
terrogation as  I  have  described  will 
therefore  be,  in  a  double  sense,  a  test  of 
the  knowledge  and  thoughtfulness  of  a 
class. 


138  Art  of  Questioning 

Every  encouragement  should  always 
bje  offered  to  the  children  to  put  ques- 
tions to  their  teacher,  and  to  give  free 
expression  to  whatever  difficulties  and 
doubts  may  be  in  their  minds.  A  good 
teacher  will  never  think  such  questions 
irksome  or  out  of  place,  but  will  welcome 
them,  and  all  the  trouble  they  may  bring 
with  them,  as  so  many  proofs  that  the 
minds  of  his  pupils  are  at  work,  and  so 
many  hopeful  guarantees  of  future  suc- 
cess. 

For,  indeed,  the  whole  sum  of  what  may 
be  said  about  questioning  is  comprised  in 
this :  It  ought  to  set  the  learners  thinking, 
to  promote  activity  and  energy  on  their 
part,  and  to  arouse  the  whole  mental 
faculty  into  action,  instead  of  blindly 
cultivating  the  memory  at  the  expense 


Stimulate  the  Mind  139 

of  the  higher  intellectual  powers.  That 
is  the  best  questioning  which  best  stim- 
ulates action  on  the  part  of  the  learner; 
which  gives  him  a  habit  of  thinking  and 
inquiring  for  himself;  which  tends  in  a 
great  measure  to  render  him  independent 
of  his  teacher;  which  makes  him,  in  fact, 
rather  a  skilful  finder  than  a  patient  re- 
ceiver of  truth.  All  our  questioning 
should  aim  at  this ;  and  the  success  of  our 
teaching  must  ever  be  measured,  not  by 
the  amount  of  information  we  have  im- 
parted, but  by  the  degree  in  which  we 
have  strengthened  the  judgment  and  en- 
larged the  capacity  of  our  pupils,  and  im- 
parted to  them  that  searching  and  in- 
quiring spirit  which  is  a  far  surer  basis 
for  all  future  acquisitions  than  any 
amount  of  mere  information  whatever. 


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